Owl thinks this gives “Tractor Porn” Neil notoriety when he was nothing more than a fool and should be left in obscurity.

How would readers rank him as a constituency MP alongside the likes of neighbouring Hugo Swire or his successor Simon Jupp?

All best forgotten.

He resigned for a particularly naughty reason

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

Neil Parish, the former Conservative MP forced to resign after admitting to watching pornography in the House of Commons, has been ranked among the “ten worst modern British politicians” by Daily Mail writer Dan Hodges.

Dan published his list on Thursday, August 28, describing Parish as “the most obscure politician on the list” but one who had squandered what should have been a “job for life”.

Mr Parish represented Tiverton and Honiton from 2010 until 2022, when he resigned following the scandal. At the time of his re-election in 2019, he held a majority of 24,000, making the seat one of the safest Conservative strongholds in the country.

In his column he wrote: “The most obscure politician on the list. And if he’d had the slightest bit of political nous, the former member for Tiverton would still be lounging in blissful obscurity. Re-elected in 2019 to the granite-safe Tory seat with an unassailable majority of 24,000 he had a job for life.

“But the ex-farmer had other ideas. In April 2022 he was accused by a female colleague who had witnessed him watching pornography in the Commons chamber.

“A more cynical – some might say accomplished – political operator would have denied the charge.

“Not Neil Parish.

“Looking for images of a combine harvester called “The Dominator” he had, he said, “reached another website with a very similar name,” whereupon he “watched for a bit”.

“Parish resigned and in the by-election that followed the Lib Dems snatched the seat with the biggest swing in parliamentary history.”

Mr Parish’s inclusion on the list places him alongside a range of political figures past and present, including Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, Peter Mandelson, Suella Braverman, Keir Starmer, Theresa May and Sue Gray.

Since leaving Parliament, Mr Parish has launched a podcast on farming and environmental issues and has continued to campaign with local Conservatives in Devon.